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The Labor Shortage Hoax
AmericanEconomicAlert.org ^ | Friday, January 27, 2006 | Alan Tonelson

Posted on 01/28/2006 9:28:18 AM PST by Willie Green

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To: Willie Green
I saw one outfit making the claim the other day that there just weren't any qualified control engineers here in America.

They had been demanding 10 years experience in programming PLC software that just came out in 2002!

They aren't kidding anyone (except maybe the politicians that they want to have bring in more H1Bs).

It's still very much a buyer's market out there.

101 posted on 01/28/2006 3:26:00 PM PST by nightdriver
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To: Sterco

Everytime the "profit is god" people take over the GOP we get our asses kicked. Guess why the Dims are so quiet right now. The have people like Johnny doing their work for them. And they work well. Most of the people in this country work for a living non-union or union. They don't appreciate being sold down the river by anyone "Johhny". Z is appropriate because it indicates that you are sleeping. Pay attention jerk!!! Things are coming around real fast.


102 posted on 01/28/2006 3:33:11 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Mase
You don't know much about post WWII economic history, do you?

Well I guess then with that question I'm supposed to presume you do?

Even the most ardent paleoconservatives, other than Buchanan, have never been in favor of economic isolationism.

It's not about economic isolationism, you won't find that in my posts. Although I do believe that if trade were kept to the 50 states and a few other countries with similar economic standards, which includes those related to labor we would do just fine that's not necessary.

What I argue is that the US should maintain complete control over its own trade policies. When any country starts taking advantage of us as China and others are doing then we should have the right to respond in kind, and that includes tariffs or restricted access to our markets. We're negotiating a lot of that away with these agreements and subjecting ourselves to the whims of unelected trade bodies that make all the decisions for us.

We're also giving corporations carte blanche to send American jobs overseas then ship all the products back as if they were made here. That's not good policy and I predict in ten years at the most there will be a shift away from anymore such agreements and maybe even a reversal of what we're currently practicing.

103 posted on 01/28/2006 3:33:44 PM PST by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: Sterco
The mantra that got Big Bush kicked out of office was "Saddam Hussein still has a job but I don't - at night he sleeps in a big warm bed but I don't". Maybe you forget I don't.

What you did seem to forget is that Bush 41 was replaced by a Democrat who turned out to be one of the biggest free-traders Washington has ever seen. If you think a protectionist candidate will get anywhere near the White House in the near future, you don't understand national politics very well.

104 posted on 01/28/2006 3:35:39 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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To: Alberta's Child

I understand that "Americans" will punish the party in power. Bush has had two terms. I suspect if things don't change there will not be another GOP President for some time to come. Arrogance comes before a fall my friend!!!


105 posted on 01/28/2006 3:38:05 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Reaganwuzthebest

I'd be curious to know how many jobs have been "shifted overseas" by these companies. U.S. manufacturing output is higher than ever, and there are more people in the U.S. working in manufacturing jobs today than there were 20, 30, or 40 years ago.


106 posted on 01/28/2006 3:38:37 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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To: Sterco

"Why should I care about some guy out in Iowa losing his job or something like that" probably out of text but you get the idea. George Senior


107 posted on 01/28/2006 3:39:17 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Sterco
I suspect if things don't change there will not be another GOP President for some time to come.

And what exactly would you define as "change" in the context of this discussion?

108 posted on 01/28/2006 3:39:43 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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To: Reaganwuzthebest
We're negotiating a lot of that away with these agreements and subjecting ourselves to the whims of unelected trade bodies that make all the decisions for us.

No, we aren't. Anyone who thinks the U.S. is really subject to these international trade organizations should take a look at the ongoing softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada. Canada has won this dispute on multiple occasions before every trade board -- including NAFTA and GATT -- and yet the U.S. tariff on Canadian lumber remains in place (going on five years now) and there isn't a damn thing anyone is going to do about it.

If the U.S. wants to ignore an international trade board, it will.

109 posted on 01/28/2006 3:42:48 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Quit selling the American bread and butter worker out!!! He is the back-bone of this nation!!! You like Asian workers move your personal posterior, family and all to Asia. Quit turning your back on your nation and calling it "the global economy". It is the "American demise". You heard it here first. The party that caters to the American worker now will be the party in power!!!


110 posted on 01/28/2006 3:43:43 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Alberta's Child

Don't eat Canadian Beef. Got bugs in it because Canadians feed them guts.


111 posted on 01/28/2006 3:45:29 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Reaganwuzthebest
It's not about economic isolationism...

Although I do believe that if trade were kept to the 50 states and a few other countries with similar economic standards, which includes those related to labor we would do just fine that's not necessary.

The only thing consistent about you is your inconsistency.

112 posted on 01/28/2006 3:46:19 PM PST by Mase
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To: Alberta's Child

Very few Free Traders dispute jobs are being lost to other countries, they just claim new ones are being created here to replace them. The problem is many of those jobs are lower paying and we have a tremendous illegal immigration problem taking many of those new jobs and depressing wages. It's the combination of the two that may prove fatal for the GOP if not in 2006 then 2008.


113 posted on 01/28/2006 3:47:19 PM PST by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: Mase

What you can't read? It was stated that if we chose to be isolationist we could probably still survive economically. It's not something however I advocate as you implied.


114 posted on 01/28/2006 3:49:07 PM PST by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: Alberta's Child

By the way after seeing your name I am sure you are looking out for the USA's best interests. We all know how Canada looks out for ours. Know some more weinies that I would like to send up to you. Hope you enjoyed the last batch.


115 posted on 01/28/2006 3:49:09 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Sterco
Ford and GM are laying off workers by the thousands, and foreign auto manufacturers are opening new plants here in the U.S. at a record pace.

Go figure.

You heard it here first. The party that caters to the American worker now will be the party in power!!!

Sure. And when you add up the votes that were accumulated in 2000 and 2004 by people like Nader and Buchanan, you get a number that is smaller than the population of the town where I grew up.

The "American worker" is now a 50-something UAW worker whose job is fading into obscurity. I hate to break this to you, but there ain't enough of them left to make any difference in a national election.

116 posted on 01/28/2006 3:49:18 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Hey Canuck when was the last time you voted in a US election?


117 posted on 01/28/2006 3:50:21 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Reaganwuzthebest
Economic prosperity in the U.S. has been built on cheap labor for two hundred years -- whether it was slaves in the South, Irish immigrants in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, Chinese "coolies" building railroads, or Eastern Europeans and Italians working in sweatshops.

The only thing that's changed today is that a lot of these workers that are fueling our prosperity are working in coal mines, sweatshops, and cotton fields somewhere in Asia.

118 posted on 01/28/2006 3:52:05 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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To: Sterco

Never much gave a damn bout what any damn "canuck" though anyhow.


119 posted on 01/28/2006 3:52:20 PM PST by Sterco
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To: Sterco
2005.

I don't know where this "Canuck" comes from.

120 posted on 01/28/2006 3:52:34 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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